The present invention relates to a front vehicle-body structure of a vehicle.
In general, in a vehicle frontal collision, an impact load is absorbed by crushing of a pair of right-and-left front side frames which are provided to extend in a vehicle longitudinal direction at a front portion of a vehicle body, and deformation of a cabin is suppressed by dispersing of the impact load to various parts of the vehicle body by way of the front side frames.
Herein, in a case where there happens a so-called small overlap collision in that a specified area of the vehicle body which is positioned on an outward side, in a vehicle width direction, of the front side frame (an area covering about 25% of an entire width of the vehicle body) and a collision object overlap each other in a vehicle width direction, when viewed from a vehicle front side, a front wheel arranged in the overlap area retreats relative to the vehicle body and an impact load is inputted from the front wheel to a hinge pillar, thereby causing deformation of a cabin.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-255705 discloses a structure which can suppress the deformation of the cabin caused by the above-described small overlap collision, for example. That is, an apron reinforcement which extends forward from an upper end portion of a hinge pillar and a hinge pillar are interconnected by a connecting member in a brace shape, so that the connection rigidity of the apron reinforcement and the hinge pillar is increased. Further, a partitioning member is arranged in a closed cross section of the hinge pillar at a positon located at the same level as a connection portion with the above-described connecting member, so that the rigidity of the hinge pillar is increased.
According to the vehicle-body structure of the above-described patent document, the front wheel which have retreated relatively in the small overlap collision contacts the connecting member, so that the impact load inputted to the connecting member is dispersed to the hinge pillar and the apron reinforcement, and further dispersed from the hinge pillar toward a rearward side of the vehicle body by way of the side sill, the front pillar, and others. Moreover, since the hinge pillar portion to which the impact load is inputted from the front wheel by way of the connecting member is reinforced by the partitioning member, the above-described load dispersion toward the rearward side of the vehicle body by way of the side sill, the front pillar, and others is achieved properly, thereby suppressing the deformation of the cabin.
In a conventional countermeasure against the above-described small overlap collision, however, the impact load inputted from the front wheel to the hinge pillar side by way of the connecting member is intensively transmitted along a transmission path extending rearward which is formed by the side sill, the front pillar, and others, so that there is room for improvement in attaining the dispersion of the impact load.